are you taking magnesium tablets you need to make sure you drink water regularly Oh I thought you were fit make sure to eat a banana during the break so much advice but nothing seems to work for your muscle cramps during exercise or competition then you need to watch this video to learn what the latest evidence says about how to relieve and prevent cramps hi and welcome back to physiotutors in an earlier video about exercise induced muscle cramps we talked about the two leading theories of cramping namely the electrolyte imbalance Theory and the neuromuscular fatigue Theory
based on evidence from Nelson Adult in 2016 we mentioned that the only thing that really helps cramping acutely is stretching but anyone involved in competitive Sports knows that cramps usually come back after minute or so and it's basically game over that's why in this video we will look at the latest evidence that has come out in the last couple of years and get into detail about what steps you can take to relief and prevent cramps in the first place I want to tell you my personal story first as you might know I played high level
amateur soccer in the past and I am playing competitive tennis now and although I would consider myself one of the fittest players on the team I seem to be the only one that is regularly stopped by muscle cramps in the past I've tried everything from taking magnesium drinking large amounts of water before and during competition adding electrolytes to my drink and even taking medication but nothing really seemed to help that's one reason why I dug deeper into the literature again to finally find something to help my situation amongst others I ended up finding this article
by Troyer doll from 2020 who published a review about exercise Associated muscle cramps in the tennis player let's first debunk a couple of myths number one while stretching is the treatment of choice to relieve acute muscle cramping it does not have a preventative effect to reduce future cramping number two several prospective cohort studies could not show an association between dehydration and cramping so while drinking enough water to prevent dehydration is advisable for sports performance it does not prevent cramps eating bananas for the potassium content does not prevent cramping as hypokalemia is not associated with cramping
nor do potassium levels change quickly enough in the blood following digestion to stop cramping what about magnesium a Cochrane review by Garrison adal in 2012 concluded that it is unlikely that magnesium supplementation provides clinically meaningful cramp prophylaxis in general the electrolyte and dehydration theories came forth from a study in 1923 yes a hundred years ago in which they observed cramping in coal miners in hot humid conditions this study has shaped the way many people in the industry view muscle cramping until this very day a survey among certified athletic Trainers for example showed that the majority
of them still believe that crimes occur due to dehydration and electrolyte loss now let's look at what does work based on the latest evidence and what I personally have in my tennis bag in order to prevent and relieve cramps now I want to stress beforehand that we need a strategy that covers as many bases as possible with different possible underlying mechanisms for cramping every athlete will have different requirements a good idea to figure out what works for you is to create a cramping diary I know details like how you slept the duration of your match
what you ate how much and what you drank and how much cramping you experienced now let's get to the part everyone was waiting for number one several studies show that tennis players can sweat up to two and a half liters per hour and the electrolyte that is lost the most by far is sodium furthermore research shows that players who lose more sodium cramp more often compare to players who lose less sodium if you sweat a lot and your shirts show those white salty lines then this is probably really crucial for you try it I'll recommend
adding about three grams of salt to half a liter of a carbohydrate electrolyte solution when generalized muscle cramping occurs but I personally find this approach very reactive to be proactive I personally add three grams of salt so about half a teaspoon to my bottle which is 750 milliliters another advantage of added salt is that it increases thirst and retains more water in the system that you would instead lose through urination ideally you should drink one to two liters of fluid per hour or between 200 and 400 milliliters each change over now a possible risk factor
for muscle fatigue is decreased muscle energy so a good idea two to three hours before competition is to consume a carbohydrate-rich meal or snack such as pasta or rice to fill up your glycogen stores during exercise between 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrates per hour are recommended you should add between six to eight grams of carbs per 100 milliliters of water to make your drink isotonic isotonic means that the drink has the same osmolarity or concentration as your blood and the carbs can thus be quickly absorbed into your bloodstream you can just add sugar to
your drink or you can opt for sports drink which is usually isotonic if you Google self-made isotonic sports drink there are many options to create your own delicious sports drink personally I would mix orange juice and water in a ratio of one to one obviously you can also consume carbohydrates in other forms such as gels or snacks a normal sized banana contains about 25 grams of carbs so one banana might be insufficient there are a couple of substances that can be ingested in order to provide rapid relief of muscle cramps by altering chemma receptors in
the oral pharynx so you don't have to wait until they are absorbed in the bloodstream amongst others you guessed it s pickle juice while having a glass of pickle juice in your bag is not really handy I carry a tube of mustard in my bag Craighead it all in 2017 suggests that the ingestion of transient receptor potential Channel agonists abbreviated as trp agonists can attenuate muscle induced cramps by decreasing Alpha motor neuron hyper excitability these trp agonists are ginger Peppers Wasabi and cinnamon so you might want to add a bit of cayenne Ginger or cinnamon
to your sports drink or have one of those little Wasabi packages in your bag to provide relief in the study participants consumed up to 500 milligrams of cinnamon 38 grams of capsicum or 750 grams of Ginger if you still experience a cramp then next to consuming mustard and wasabi you can decrease EMG activity by stretching and massaging the affected muscles antagonist contraction in icing or cooling the affected muscles can help by increasing the inhibitory afferent of the Golgi tendon organ so I would suggest adding a cooling gel eye spray or cooling towel to your bag
something that has helped me personally with calf crimes during soccer matches were compression stockings be aware though that this is personal anecdotal evidence and that no Studies have evaluated the effects of compression stockings on exercise induced muscle cramps yet and our last and probably most important advice is conditioning focusing on increased endurance intensity and resistance training of the affected muscle groups as well as other stabilizing muscles of the kinetic chain the message is simple the fitter you are the less your muscles are prone to cramping while General heavy lifting did not help me with cramping
personally I switched to mainly plyometric training off the legs about two to three times a week in an attempt to prepare specifically for the demands of tennis on top of that Plyometrics are set to improve neuromuscular control and delay neuromuscular fatigue by inducing beneficial adaptations to muscle fibers and the Golgi tendon organ firing receptors all right so this was our video on preventing and curing exercise induced muscle cramps if none of these tips can help you you might want to get evaluated by a physician to exclude an underlying disease let us know in the comments
if our tips helped you with cramping or what other measures you are taking personally as always give this video a like And subscribe if you like more content like this this was Kai for physio tutors I'll see you in the next video bye and cheers foreign
